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Are You Prepared for a Public Safety Power Shutoff?

Southern California Edison and PG&E may shut down power during critical fire weather to reduce the risk of wildfires. A Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) could lead to multi-day power outages in many areas during periods of extremely hot, dry and/or windy weather.

The community is invited to learn more about the PSPS program from utility representatives. County officials will provide information to help individuals make important safety decisions and prepare for possible extended power outages.

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After years of thinking it might be a good idea I just bought a
Honda EU2200i 2200-Watt Super Quiet Gas Power Portable Inverter Generator from Amazon, with extension cords, gas can, LED lights, the whole shebang. Plus a secure way to lock it to a tree when my whole neighborhood goes silent and I've got it running. I recommend this machine, it is powerful, relatively quiet, and it'll be a buffer against aggravations in a shut down. My neighbor has guns, I have water and power and food, we're set. At this point it isn't an IF, its a WHEN. Zombie apocalypse.

I've spent a lot of time in developing countries and war ravaged places, and this is exactly how people there live and think: generators, ice blocks, stockpiling food and resources, self sufficiency from police, fire and other agencies. Who would have thought that we'd transition to this level of preparation in California in the 21st century? It's blowing my mind.

Generators in the hands of some people who do not understand their danger. Fires start. Neighbors can't call 911 because power is down. Houses, close together in high density neighborhoods, start on fire. Are YOU ready to fight a fire in your neighborhood. And we thought candles were dangerous.

Rant about SCE all you want, but that won’t improve your preparedness. Get your LED lamps and batteries, make some ice blocks in your freezer for your fridge, have enough food on hand for 5-7 days with the assumption stores may not be open, some of us may be without water service, and other things. It’s all there in the links provided. If you have an electric stove you will need a safe alternative method for food preparation. It will be like camping at home, and few people will like it.

Keep your car’s gas tank at least a quarter full so you always have some in case the gas station pumps shut down. We can lobby to get the electric companies to improve the infrastructure, but in the meantime, do what you can for yourself.

Since our last discussion on this topic I have frozen 4 one gallon jugs of water in my garage freezer. I’ll be ready to pop those into my fridge to give 24 hrs to use up my perishables. Start getting prepared. If you don’t know how to get ready it would be a good idea for you to attend one of these meetings.

If you are upset about the situation, consider taking part in the upcoming global climate strike. There will be events September 20-27 in Santa Barbara and around the world. This inconvenience is only an inkling of the problems to come in the near future as a result of climate change.

Namas, because if you drive or use any plastic on that day, this makes you a hypocrite and ineligible to express your viewpoint on this? By that standard, no one has any standing to try and change things at all. Is that what you are trying to achieve?

If it's that dangerous that Edison or PG&E turns off the power, shouldn't there be an immediate mandatory evacuation ordered? That way, if you need AC you can go to a hotel and insurance will pay for it. But your neighborhood has to be ordered to evacuate first. Or maybe...just maybe...Edison/PG&E should pay for your hotel stay?

I'm incensed at our politicians for casually giving the power companies a green light to turn off power. This is collective punishment for the purpose of lowering Edison's liability (many of our enemies were hanged for collective punishment after WW II). Let's face it, we the taxpayers will have to pay, one way or another. We will have to step up and declare that we will pay power-company costs in civil court. Our payment will be in dollars, not in the danger and inconvenience of an open-ended deliberate power outage.

SANTABARBARAOBSERVER
Of course these shut offs are about their liability. Do you really think these utilities care about the danger? If that were the case the infrastructure would have been hardened years ago. It took several tragedies and over 100 dead to get them in gear. PG&E has a particularly egregious track record of safety. People seem to forget when the power is out water wells don’t function,. So those who depend on wells for fire fighting are left helpless. Gas stations cannot pump gas, this doesn’t work out very well when people have to evacuate or fire trucks need to fill up ( this happened in Carp during the Thomas Fire and in Malibu last year) medical needs for those on home oxygen etc cannot be met and lastly if evacuations are necessary, it’s a hell of a lot harder to get out in the dark....

Liability? Nope. These outages are about lessening the chances of another fire being sparked during a wind event and producing another firestorm that takes lives and property. Your access to electricity is not a right. If you want or need your electricity to be on 100% of the time, then buy your own generator and prepare for the event. Its not the governments job or duty to assure that you have power 24/7. Its your responsibility to take care of your needs.

Millimesa, interesting info for future reference. Hopefully frontier will address this problem for future outages? But we humans are very poor planners in general, wired to address emergencies after the fact.

During the power shutoff 2 weeks ago in Gaviota that lasted for 20 hours, the landlines stopped working 6 hours into the shutoff.
The coordination between Edison and Frontier and Union Pacific RR was zero. Had there been coordination Frontier would've properly equipped their low voltage lines to continue running the whole duration of teh outage and UPRR wouldn't of been caught off guard either.

Old school landline has its own power and will work if line isn't severed. Maybe cell towers in unaffected areas could also take your call? We are used to a level of service that may not be available in the future unless we start investing in infrastructure.